Concetti Chiave
- Coketown is depicted as an industrial town with uniform red and black brick buildings, darkened by factory smoke, symbolizing pollution and monotony.
- The town's environment is described through sensory details: noisy machines, dirty canals, and a lack of vibrant colors, highlighting the harsh living conditions.
- The repetitive lifestyle in Coketown leads to worker alienation, with individuals losing their identity and becoming mere cogs in the industrial machine.
- Dickens uses vivid similes to portray Coketown as an urban jungle, emphasizing the chaotic and oppressive atmosphere.
- In "Oliver Twist," Oliver's life in the workhouse illustrates the harsh treatment of orphans and the poor, reflecting the Victorian belief that poverty stems from laziness.
CHARLES DICKENS
The main features of this town are dullness, pollution, monotony and the lost of identity of the workers. They are alienated because They live in a town where the streets and the buildings are alike, where people does the same work at the same and where all days are alike. People can’t express their feelings, imagination or creativity. They lose their identity and become impersonal gears of their machines.
People’s frustration is also conveyed through the repetition of keyword or phrases. Dickens uses three similes to describe this town: the red and black buildings look like the painted face of a savage, the smoke coming out of the factories is like a snakes and the steam engine of the machines moved up and down like the head of a mad elephant. These three similes turn the town into an urban jungle and give the idea of a place where is difficult to live.
Oliver Twist is Dickens’first novel. Oliver is a pale short child, he is nine years old, but he has a strong willpower. He lives in a workhouse an institution where live poor people, people without work, orphans and abandoned children. They are ill treated and they suffers from hunger because the Victorians believe that unemployment is the result of laziness therefore they make the life terrible in the workhouse.
Oliver is in the dining room with other, They gaze at the large pot with hungry eyes. After that a boy had threatened to eat the boy sleeping next to him, the children decided to ask for more food. Oliver gets up and goes to the master to ask for more food. The master gets pale and brings Oliver to the superior to explain what He had done.
Domande da interrogazione
- Quali sono le caratteristiche principali di Coketown descritte da Dickens?
- Come viene rappresentata la frustrazione delle persone a Coketown?
- Qual è la situazione di Oliver Twist nel romanzo di Dickens?
Coketown è caratterizzata da monotonia, inquinamento e perdita di identità dei lavoratori. Le case sono costruite con mattoni rossi e neri anneriti dal fumo delle fabbriche, e l'acqua del canale e del fiume è sporca e maleodorante a causa degli scarti industriali. Le persone sono alienate e non possono esprimere la loro creatività.
La frustrazione delle persone a Coketown è espressa attraverso la ripetizione di parole chiave e frasi. Dickens utilizza similitudini per descrivere la città, paragonando gli edifici ai volti dipinti di un selvaggio, il fumo delle fabbriche a serpenti e le macchine a teste di elefanti impazziti, trasformando la città in una giungla urbana.
Oliver Twist è un bambino di nove anni che vive in un workhouse, un'istituzione per poveri, disoccupati, orfani e bambini abbandonati. Sono maltrattati e soffrono la fame, poiché i vittoriani credono che la disoccupazione sia il risultato della pigrizia. Oliver, spinto dalla fame, chiede più cibo al maestro, suscitando sorpresa e preoccupazione.